PALM BEACH, Fla. — Forget Camp David, where previous White House occupants went to relax, entertain friends or meet with foreign leaders. President Trump has proven he prefers Mar-a-Lago.

It was from this 100,000-square-foot palatial estate that he ordered the Tomahawk missile strike at the Shayrat Airbase in Syrian while meeting with the president of China. He has also entertained the Japanese leader at Mar-a-Lago.

Here on this tony barrier island on Florida's Atlantic Coast is where the action is, luring sightseers, protesters, pro-Trump supporters and leading government figures.

But unless you're a member of his Mar-a-Lago Club, or a guest at one of its lavish charity balls, chances are you won't get near the place when the president is in town. Land and sea approaches to the 17.5-acre compound are routinely cordoned off by Secret Service and local police.

The pool at Mar-a-Lago. Guests have access to another pool facing the Intracoastal Waterway behind the main building(Photo: COURTESY OF MAR-A-LAGO CLUB)

Trump purchased the more than 120-room residence and its furnishings in 1985 for nearly $10 million. Ten years later he turned it into a private club that his company operates as a business, and promoted it as an opulent, historic property with 58 bedrooms, 33 bathrooms, 12 fireplaces and three bomb shelters.

After taking office, the price for joining the club was raised to $200,000, double what it was before the election. The Trump Organization justified the increase, contending $200,000 had been the original price but was reduced to $100,000 during the recession. Its annual dues/dining fee total, $16,000, was not changed, however.

The club has nearly 500 members. As Palm Beach residents, my wife and I attended a couple lectures at Mar-a-Lago (Spanish for "Sea to Lake").

Rooms have the feeling and museum-like trappings of a Loire Valley French chateau. There are marble floors, rare Oriental carpets, old paintings and 16th-century Flemish tapestries.

Large portraits of Trump wearing a white sweater and Marjorie Merriweather Post, the cereal heiress who built Mar-a-Lago, face each other on opposite walls in a large, sumptuous room copied from a Venetian palace.

There are black-and-white marble floors; ceilings, walls and furnishings with gold leaf; and rooms and hallways with colorful Spanish tiles dating to the 15th century.

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie Abe on Air Force One at the Palm Beach International Airport as they prepare to spend part of the weekend together at Mar-a-Lago resort on Feb. 10.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump sit down to dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie Abe at Mar-a-Lago. Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, was also present at the dinner table.
Susan Walsh, AP

The lavish Mar-a-Lago ballroom that Trump built at a cost of $9 million after acquiring the former Marjorie Merriweather Post estate. His and Donald J. Trump Jr.'s wedding receptions were held here 11 months apart.(Photo: COURTESY OF MAR-A-LAGO CLUB)

Since acquiring the property, he's added tennis courts, a spa, a croquet court, updated the beach house and, at a cost of $9 million, built an adjoining Louis XIV ballroom with 40-foot ceilings and glittering chandeliers.

The ballroom can comfortably accommodate 800 guests, and nearly that many, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, were there for the 2005 Donald Trump-Melania Knauss wedding reception.

An added perk for club members and area visitors is a 62-acre, 27-hole golf course and clubhouse Trump built in nearby West Palm Beach. He still plays during his visits.

A heliport has been built on Mar-a-Lago property, allowing use of a helicopter to get to his estate from Palm Beach International Airport, about 3 miles away.

One of the more modern Mar-a-Lago rooms.(Photo: COURTESY OF Mar-a-Lago Club)

About 30 other billionaires maintain homes nearby, most assessed at higher values, but none enjoy the panache and celebrity status of Mar-a-Lago.

It's where some of the posh resort's most lavish winter season charity fundraisers and other events take place.

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The ornate, rambling main building can be seen from South Ocean Boulevard immediately north of Southern Boulevard, and from the banks of the Intracoastal Waterway and ocean.

The front overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and the rear faces the Lake Worth section of the Intracoastal Waterway. There are swimming pools on the beachside and lakeside.

Coast Guard and Secret Service vessels guard both water approaches to the estate during the president's presence.

Mar-a-Lago is visible from a motorcade transporting President Trump in Palm Beach, Fla.(Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The main building was designed by the New York architect Marion Sims Wyeth, who also created other Palm Beach mansions, including the Florida governor’s in Tallahassee and Doris Duke’s landmark Shangri La estate in Honolulu. He collaborated with Joseph Urban, an Austrian-American interior designer and illustrator who created parrot, monkey, ram and eagle sculptures on the structure's exterior walls.

Trump would be the first to tell you Mar-a-Lago is one of his most prized possessions and has made him a part-time resident of Palm Beach. The club lies about 5 miles south of the 15-room oceanfront Palm Beach mansion that once was President John F. Kennedy’s winter White House.

The old Kennedy estate has since changed hands twice, been updated and remodeled and is now owned by a New York asset manager.

Club members are permitted to rent rooms at Mar-a-Lago for their overnight guests. This is one of the available bedrooms. A private section of the mansion is set aside for the president and family members.(Photo: COURTESY OF MAR-A-LAGO)

As a brash real estate mogul through the years, the president has been in litigious battles with the nearby airport and Palm Beach County, trying to prevent noisy planes from flying over Mar-a-Lago.

Not only do they annoy club members, he has argued, but they're damaging his National Historic Landmark property.

Shortly after the election, though, he withdrew his latest suit, which sought $100 million in damages, after learning the Secret Service won't allow flights over Mar-a-Lago when he's there.